Ukrainian community on edge as Russia moves to invade country
Courtesy of Nelia McCaw
Nelia McCaw, pictured with her husband, Brett, and their three children, Joseph, Anna-Theresa and Olga Sophia, during a traditional Ukrainian “Holy Supper” they held on Christmas Eve 2021.
Nelia McCaw, center, with her husband, Brett McCaw, right and their three children, at Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church in Carnegie in December 2021. McCaw, who holds a doctorate in history, immigrated to the United States in 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea.
Courtesy of Nelia McCaw
Nelia McCaw, second from right, and her husband, Brett McCaw, right, with her extended family in Ukraine, during a visit.
Ukrainians in Southwestern Pennsylvania are anxiously watching the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine, worried about their families and the country.
“We are certainly very concerned. This time reminds me very much of when I was in Ukraine in 2014 and (Russia annexed Crimea),” said Nelia McCaw, a parishioner at Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church in Carnegie. “It feels like deja vu. The way (Vladimir) Putin does it, he doesn’t back down. He doesn’t stop. We are quite pessimistic. The fact that this is happening, we fear what it will do to our country. For me, it feels very surreal.”
Pittsburgh is home to a large Ukrainian population.
The Rev. Roman Yatskiv, pastor of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Monessen, said immigrants came to the Pittsburgh area before World War I, where they worked in coal mines and steel mills.
Born in Western Ukraine, Yatskiv immigrated to the United States in 1998 and is closely following the news.
“I cannot tell you how painful this is for me as a Ukrainian man, how painful it is for our people in Ukraine. We are really disturbed,” said Yatskiv. “I don’t know who’s going to stop Putin.”
On Wednesday, an invasion of Ukraine appeared imminent, with Russian forces massed along Ukraine’s border. Sanctions seem unlikely to deter a major conflict, and local Ukrainians are fearful about the humanitarian, economic and political chaos likely to happen if fighting erupts.
“All our parishioners are maintaining contact with family and friends in Ukraine,” said the Rev. Jason Charron, pastor at Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church in Carnegie. “We’re praying. Our first recourse is the spiritual order, and we pray that it will have an effect on the hearts and minds of men who are making decisions of war and peace.”
Charron’s mother-in-law, who lives in western Ukraine, is scheduled to get a flight out of the country next week and plans to stay with Charron and his wife, Halyna.
But Charron’s sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and nieces and nephews remain in Ukraine.
Charron said Ukrainians living in the country have stayed calm as they await Russia’s next moves.
“Surprisingly, it’s calmer there than it is here, because this has been their daily bread for the past eight years,” said Charron. “It’s been in the news cycle here for a couple of months, but Russia and its military forces have been a part of life every day in Ukraine since 2014 and there’s been a daily threat that it could expand.”
Yatskiv said Ukrainians, who gained independence in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed, have historically been peaceful, but will fight to retain their independence and their culture.
“In our history, we never start a fight with anyone,” said Yatskiv. “I am a priest; we pray first, but sometimes praying is just not enough … I know what my friends are doing there, and they are not just praying, they are preparing to defend their country.”
McCaw’s mother is in the United States, but her extended family and several friends are still in Ukraine.
“Some cannot leave, either they don’t want to leave or financially they can’t, and they’re ready to fight. People are trying to be calm, but they’re also realists and they’re preparing to fight,” said McCaw, noting her alarm over the recent shelling by Russian-backed separatists that damaged a kindergarten school and other structures. “(The Russians) have already invaded.”
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, McCaw, along with her husband and two children, traveled each year to Ukraine with her mother, who still maintains a home there, to visit family and friends.
McCaw, who holds a doctorate degree in history, had planned to visit this summer, but those plans are on hold.
For McCaw, who moved to the United States in 2014, shortly after the Crimea annexation, the events unfolding in her homeland are heartbreaking.
“I was born in independent Ukraine and I could never even think our sovereignty is so vulnerable,” she said. “I remember growing up always hearing about Putin’s ideology about what Russia should look like and what he wanted to do, but seeing it happen is very difficult. This is very hard to watch.”